She had been kept in seclusion but eventually released. Four men took her into a car and drove out with her. She had been gagged and blindfolded, with both hands and feet tied up.
Caroline was so lost in her thoughts that she did not realize that her captors had finally stopped the car. She was still blindfolded and so she did not know where they were. As they travelled from the place where Jack and his men had kept her hidden from Nick as they waited for Nick to make a decision, Caroline at first was panicking. She had felt like these goons were going to hurt her or even molest and kill her. She had tried to scream but all to no avail. Then as they went for many uncountable kilometers and nothing seemed to happen to her, she had calmed down and decided to work up her brains.
"You might have taken my body captive but not my mind!" she told herself. "I can plan and device something that would help me. That you can't stop me." That is how she started thinking first of how she had come to be in that position.
"The one who said love is blind was right. I only cared about my love for Nick that I never asked details about him. I really don't know him. What even is his second name? Where are his relatives? Does he have parents? Where do they live?" She realized just now how blind she had been. "Now, in case Nick is in deep trouble, as it really seems to be, what do I do?" she asked herself. She decided that she was not just going to sit by and let the only man who had shown her love to perish in the hands of some murderers.
"I have to do something!" she said as she came back to reality. That is when she realized they had stopped. The vehicle was not moving even though she still had her blindfold on. She fear slowly building again in her as she wondered what would happen next after they had stopped. She waited and listened. She heard the men discussing outside the car. A gushing wind blew from her side and she guessed the door on her side was opened. But she could not move, even rise from her seat for both her hands and legs were still tied. She could neither say a thing. So she waited.
"Yeah this is the place!" she heard one of the men saying. She wondered, "Which place? For what? Where was this place?" As she thought, she heard what made her feel her end was come. Would she sit back and let them do whatever they wanted to do to her? "No! I will die fighting!" she promised herself when she heard one deep voice saying, "Bring her out now!" She waited for the first touch. Just as felt a man's hand holding her arms she started shrugging and struggling with him. Another pair of hands went to her thighs and legs where ropes passed, tying her down so tightly that she could not raise a foot.
"So you want to rape me!" she thought as she struggled with the two men. Luckily she felt her feet being loosened and she was free. The ropes had been undone so swiftly then were her hands. The two men quickly brought her out of the vehicle even as she fought against them. She was still gagged and blindfolded so she didn't see where they were and she could neither speak out loudly. But as soon as she felt freed and could move her hands and legs, she raised a kick which hit one of the men squarely on the stomach. He belched and bent over with pain, cursing, and saying, "Stupid little brat!"
"Relax young lady," a cool deep male voice said. He was standing a few meter from her, as she could judge by her senses. "We mean you no harm!" he added. Caroline relaxed a little bit but remained sensitive to any movement or touch. She did not trust these men. After all they were her captors. She was ready to defend herself until she could no more do a thing for herself. But contrary to her expectations, she heard the vehicle coming back to life and doors closing. Then the deep voice said to her, "You are free to go! Go home to your sick mother!" then the last door was heard closing and the car drove off.
Caroline had panicked, both in surprise that she had just been released and in shock because she was being left alone in the middle of nowhere with a gag and blindfold. She had tried to throw her arms in the air and shout "Wait! Wait!" but she was barely audible. She stopped screaming and began to think. She decided to remove her blindfold because her hands were now free. She removed it together with the gag! In shock, she realized that it was already night. She could not see properly. But there was a small flashlight left for her by the captors. It had been switched on and placed on the road, pointing to the opposite direction from where the vehicle had gone. Caroline quickly picked it up and shone around her. She saw the tires of the vehicle. It had turned on that very spot and headed in the opposite direction. Caroline reasoned that it had gone back the way it came and therefore, she was to go in the direction the torch was pointing. As she stood listening her senses got acquainted to the environment, she could hear the crickets chirping in the bushes nearby, smell the descending fog, and saw the road ahead of her.
She started walking slowly in the direction the torch was facing when she picked it up. As she went ahead, the road slowly started seeming familiar to her, maybe because her senses were now fully awake. She went a little further and identified where she was. She identified the lining of trees along the roads and the electric lights a few meters ahead. She was back in her village market. The captors had brought her close to her home and dropped her off, just outside the market. "But how did they know where I came from?" Caroline wondered. She was however thankful to God that nothing had happened to her on her way back.
But one thing that continued nagging her was what would happen to her boyfriend Nick. And where would she find him?
She remembered his last words to her. Nick seemed to know that the men would bring her home. Somehow he had hinted at that, for he had said;
"No matter what happens, know that I love. You are going home today, don't be..." but before he could finish that sentence, two strong arms grabbed him and took him out of the room. Caroline had felt confused and cried uncontrollably that day. She had hoped that they would be reuniting after a harrowing experience in the hands of her captors. But it had turned the opposite and now she didn't know when, if ever at all, she will be able to be with him again.
Caroline walked the rest of the way with renewed strength after realizing that she was not far from home. She was glad to be alive, unlike a few days earlier when she thought her life had come to a premature end. She now had renewed energy and determination.
"I will live for the ones I loved, the ones who look up to me, the ones in whom I am valued," she committed.
She reached home. Her blood boiled, her stomach churned and her heart started beating furiously. She had been away from home for all those days. Although it was against her will and unavoidable, but she had not told anyone. Yet she had a sick mother and a perennial alcoholic for a further. She had left her teenage brother at home and wondered how her family had lived without her. She knocked on the door and waited. There was no answer. She knocked again and listened.
After waiting for what seemed an eternity, the door finally opened. Caroline had not expected to see the person who opened the door for her. It was at night and she thought only her nuclear family would be there. She thought it would be either Hilkah or her dad opening the door.
"Caroline! Caroline!" Belinda shouted as soon as she opened the door. She had come to the door fearfully, yet also expectant. Her instincts had told her that Caroline would soon be back home in one piece, so he opened the door with two kinds of expectations. The second thought was the one granted.
Overwhelmed with emotions and a relief that she was even there, just for her, tears of joy cascaded down Caroline's face as she ran in to hug Belinda.
"Oh Belinda!" Caroline said as she fell into her hands. Belinda ululated and other people came to welcome her all of a sudden. Caroline was left speechless when she saw Vicky was also there, and that her father who came also to welcome him was sober on that day. This was a new one. He had never been at home being this sober. It was new.
Vicky came up to Caroline. The two looked into the eyes of one another. For a moment nobody moved. Everybody else in the room kept silent. They looked at the two. Then as abruptly as it all was, the two embraced one another.
Leaning to her ears, Vicky told Caroline, "I led the search team to Nick's place, but you were not there."
Caroline regained her composure and looked at the speaker glaringly. Her lips curled as though she wanted to ask something but then she looked around, and decided that would be for later.
"Where is mum?" Caroline asked.